“I don't know. We'll find out, won't we?” He smiled. “But I'll need help of all of you to make a Web. The interference is clouding my mind.”

“But you can do it without damaging the memory of the computer?” The Overlord's face was drawn and anxious.

“I'm sure I won't damage it. I can't promise not to set off something that warns it. What'll happen if I do that?”

“I'm not sure. I believe that the early Lords may have built in some hidden defence system. Obviously it is not in the diagrams.”

Luke whistled. The tension in the room grew.

“You still want me to try?”

The Overlord smiled mirthlessly. “I have decided that after all I am a gambler. Everything on this one throw. Don't let me down, Luke.”

“I'll try not to. Form a Web around me, my friends. I will need every gram of strength.”

He sat cross-legged with the circuit diagram on the floor in front of him. As he concentrated on it, the nineteen others formed a circle around him and joined hands.

Standing by the door, Tomi and his father saw the twenty sitting with their eyes shut. The minutes flipped over. Five, then fifteen ... A faint hum began to grow and resonate through the room. Then a golden light, as faint as a sunbeam through mist, began to thicken in a circle above their heads.

Luke did not move. Nothing seemed to happen at all and Tomi wondered whether he had simply fallen asleep. Then he noticed the drops of Sweat spring out on Luke's forehead, gather into larger drops and slowly trickle down his temples.

More time passed. The Overlord's eyes went to the clock. It was the only movement in the room. Tomi followed his eyes. Four o'clock. Only two hours left. In two hours the computer's wake-up signal would awaken the Ark. The soldiers would be alerted. The loss of the slaves would be discovered. The prisoners' empty room. They would look for the Overlord ...

Luke's voice made them jump. It was flat, the words dragged out as if he were talking in his sleep. “I have reached the gate. Now how can I go behind it? I can't hold it open with my mind and go on. But it mustn't close. That is what will destroy the computer. I need help. Ruth, come in and hold the gate for me. “

“Luke, I can't. I'm not good enough.”

“We've had a lot of practice. The rope. And the mudslide.

You're going to have to stop being afraid, Ruth.”

“Me? Afraid?”

“You're so afraid of your own power you won't let it happen. I need you, Ruth. Give yourself permission to be strong. “

“All right. What must I do?”

“Put your hand in mine. Now come inside my mind.”